Clothesline



M. H. McKlNLEY.

CLOTHESLINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10, 1920.

' wvowh'oz Mil/005911 471212 7 Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON H. MCK'INTLEY, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

CLOTHESLINE.

Application filed February T 0 all whom it mag/concern:

Be itknown that I, MILToN. H- McKrN- LEY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State ofWashington, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements inClotheslines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention'relates to improvements in clothes lines and the object ofmy improvement is to provide a clothes line that the clothes may bereadily attached to without the use of clothes pins-or other fasteningmeans aside from the means embodied in the construction of the. lineitself.

Another object is to provide a line of this. nature that is simple inconstruction, notexpensive to manufacture, and one that will hold theclothes securely when they, are fastened therein but which willv notdamage the clothes and from which the clothes may be readily removedwhen desired.

A more specific object is to provide a a clothes line that is made of aplurality of short sections of wire interlocked with each other and bentin such amanner as to form clothes receiving clips that will not tend toloosen when a hard pull is exerted on the line due to a heavy weightof'clothes being sustained thereon.

The invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation andcombination of parts of a clothes line as will be'more clearlyhereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is aview in side elevation showingone complete section and two fragmentary sections of a clothes lineconstructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe same showing, a complete section and a fragmentary section foldedside by side. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in side elevation showing aslight modification of a part of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig.4' is a fragmentary view in side elevation 7.

showing a modification of another part of the device; Fig. 5 isa viewpartly in section and partly in elevation on broken line 5, 5 of Fig. 1;and Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation showing a modified form ofclothes.

line.

A complete clothes line may be formed of any number of sectionsaccording to the length of line desired all of such sections beingsubstantially duplicates so that a description of one section will applyto all.

Referring to the drawings, throughout.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 6, 192i.

10, 1920. Serial no. 357,592.

which like reference numerals designate like parts, the numeral 7designates a straight section of wire that is bent at one end to form aloop 8 which is offset to one side of the axis of the straight sectionas shown in Fig. 2 to facilitate folding the several sections of a linetogether into a more compact form for handling. The other end of thestraight section 7 is bent through substantially one and one-halfcomplete turns to form a circular loop 9, thence projects outwardly fromthe loop 9 ina short substantially straight section 11. That issubstantially parallel with and spaced a distance equal to the diameterof the loop 9 from the straight section 7. At the outer end of thestraight short section 11 the wire is bent on an incline as at 12 andisthere straightened to formaclothes engaging portion comprising twospacedapart straight sections of wire 13 and 14 arranged to lie on oppositesides of the main wire 7 and connected by a loop or'bend 15 that fitsover the main wire 7. The section 141 terminates in aninclined end 16that is sub stantially parallel with the inclined section 12 and thatmay, if desired, be doubled on itself as shown at 17 in Fig. 3 to renderit less liable to catch and damage the clothes.

The end 16 and the inclined section 12 being on opposite sides of themain wire 7 serve to preventthe clothes engaging clip from being twistedsidewise with respect to the main wire.

The loop'or bend 15 that fits over the wire 7 is necessarily bent into'aplane at an angle tothe plane of the two sections 13 and 1 1 so thatsuch sections-13 and 14 may lie alongside of or slightly below the wire7. In Fig. 1 the loop 15 is shown as inclined upwardly from the plane ofthe sections 13 and let;

In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown a form of loop 18 that may be used insteadof the loop 15, which loop 18 is formed by doubling the wires closelytogether for a short distance so that when they rest upon the straightsection 7 the end of the loop will project a greater distance outwardlyfrom the wire section 7 than the loop 15 does, thereby making it moreeasy to insert a piece of clothing thereunder.

In constructing a clothes line a plurality of these sections are securedtogether by clenching the loops 8 into the loops 9 to form a line of thedesired length. If tension is exerted on the line either by the weightof wet clothes hung thereon or in any other manner such tension w1l1tend to draw the clothes engaging portions 13, 14. and 15 more securelyinto engagement Wlth' the clothes that are held thereby.

The loop 9 acts as a spring and urges the loop 15 toward the wiresection 7 at all times but such loop 9 is sufficiently resilient topermit the parts 13, 14 and 15 to be easily raised oil 01": the wiresection 7 and folds of clothes to be inserted therebetween.

When the clothes are to be removed from the line a pull from left toright as viewed in Fig. 1, may be exerted on such clothes and they maybe readily drawn out of the clip formed by the wire parts 13, 14 and 15and the straight section 7.

The inclined parts 12 and 16 serve as guides and also serve to preventthe clothes from being'drawn back into the loop 9 while the straightsection 11 adds to the re- I siliency afforded by the loop 9.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a clothes line comprising a straight wiresection21 having a closed loop 22 at one end and provided at its other end witha spring loop 23 that merges into a bend 24: that rests against thestraight section 21. Continuing from the bend 24 the wire bends awayfrom the section 21 in another spring loop 25 and is then straightenedinto substantially parallel relation to the main section 21 and bent toform a clothes engaging clip comprising two straight portions 26 and 27that are united by an integral clip 28 that fits over the section .21.The portion 27 terminates in adownturned end 29 that coiiperates withone side of the spring loop 25 to prevent the clothes engaging clip frombeing twisted sidewise from the main wire 21.

In forming a clothes line from the sections shown in Fig. 6 the loops 22of the several sections are engaged within the loops 23 to form a lineof any desired length.

The device shown in Fig. 6 differs from that shown in the precedingfigures in the manner of forming the loop and spring at the-end wherethe clothes retaining clip is doubled back on the straight section ofwire but is similar to the device shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive inhaving a clothes engaging portion that fits over and straddles the mainwire, that is provided with guiding means to prevent its sidewisedisplacement from the main wire and that is constructed in such a mannerthat tension on the line tends to draw the clothes engaging portionsmore firmly into engagement with the main pen 7 the mainwire section 21,the bend. 24 by its engagement with the main wire 21' serving to preventthe loop 23 from functioning as a spring to any great extent. 7

My clothes line is strong, simple and not expensive to construct willhold clothes efiiciently without damaging the same, is easy andconvenient to manipulate and entirely eliminates the necessity ofclothes pins of the various forms now in common use.

From the foregoing description taken in connectioirwith the accompanyingdrawings the advantages of the construction and ot the method ofoperation of this device will be readily-apparent and while I have described the'principle of operation of the invention together with thedevice which I now 'consider'to be the best'embodiment thereof, I desireto have it understood that the device shown is"merely"illustrative andthat such changes may be made'as are within the scopeof thefollowingclaim.

lVhat I claim is:

A pinless clothes-line formed of connected wiresections,-each-comprising a straight-line section, a loop formed at oneend thereof, the other end of the straight line section being bent toform a resilient perpendicularly extending loop, with the end of thewire of the resilient loop extending from the lower side thereoffor a.short distance parallel to the straight line section and abruptlyinclined toward the straight line section to form an'abutment, and bentupon itself to provide parallel members spaced'slightly be low thestraight line section and connected by a loopoverlying the straight linesection, the end of the wire being angularly bent to lie adjacent theabutment section of the rela-' tively short portion extendin'g from there-' .MILT-ou H. MCKINLEY. 1

